Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) display terminals, such as the 3Com PalmPilot™ and the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) WorkPad™ have been building a user base over the past few years. Current estimates are that there are several million of these devices in present usage. While these personal devices have found limited selective markets among users with specific needs and habits, they have not, as yet, found the widespread appeal which was expected when they first began to appear almost a decade ago. Consequently, the technology is seeking applications of greater mass appeal. One area of great potential is in the area of communication through the Web or Internet (used synonymously). Initially, the palm-type computers accessed the Web through the Web browser programs of the desktop computer with which the palm-type device was synchronized, e.g. HotSynced, where the device is synchronized with a desktop personal computer which functions as a receiving station on the Web, so that the communication may be through the synchronized personal computer. In recent years, personal palm devices have also developed a networking protocol: TCP/IP, which permits direct connection to the Web through PDA modems, which are described in greater detail at pp. 148–149 of the text Palm III & PalmPilot, Jeff Carlson, Peachpit Press, 1998. With either approach, users accustomed to browsing the Web by using a desktop computer with highly visual Web documents with multiple graphics and animations, initially experience disappointment with the limited display of the personal palm device. Manipulation of information on this small display is difficult since the user has to scan and scroll in all directions to comprehend information laid out for conventional larger screen desktop computer displays.
There are Web browser programs such as ProxiWeb which significantly reduce the Web page size to fit the confines of the palm-type device. However, this browser program detours the HTML data through a proxy server which resizes the Web page. In most cases, the information on the palm-type device screen is so small that it is difficult and frustrating to read.